Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Moses Pouring Water From the Rock

Artist: Unknown Artist (Italian, -)

Medium: pen and brown ink, red wash, over traces of black chalk on paper

Dimensions: 6 5/8 in. x 9 1/8 in. (16.9 cm. x 23.2 cm.)

Credit Line: Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III

Accession Number: 1811.18

• unidentifiable fragment
  Type: watermark
  Location:
  Materials:
• "Pietro da Cortona"
  Type: inscription
  Location: former mount (lost)
  Materials:
• "Ciro Ferri / E. 24"
  Type: inscription
  Location: verso
  Materials:

• James Bowdoin III( Collector, Boston) - 1811.
• Bowdoin College Museum of Art( Museum, Brunswick, Maine) 1811- . Bequest

• Old Master Drawings at Bowdoin College
  • Bowdoin College Museum of Art. ( 5/17/1985 - 7/7/1985)
  • Clark Art Institute. ( 9/14/1985 - 10/27/1985)
  • University of Kansas. ( 1/19/1986 - 3/2/1986)
  • Art Gallery of Ontario. ( 5/17/1986 - 6/29/1986)

Possibly derived from a Ferri composition. Oberhuber considered it Genoese; it could also be Dutch. The scene depicts Moses (with characteristic "horns") distributing water to the Israelites after striking the rock of Horeb with his staff (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13).

Commentary credited to David P. Becker (or not otherwise captioned) appeared in his catalogue Old Master Drawings at Bowdoin College (Brunswick: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1985).